1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure is generally directed to infant or children's car seats, and more particularly to a reclinable car seat and a recline mechanism for same.
2. Description of Related Art
Children's vehicle safety seats or car seat assemblies are known in the art. Many known car seats employ a seat body or seat shell coupled to a seat base that rests on the vehicle seat. Such car seats typically have a relatively tall or high seat base such that when the car seat is installed on a seating surface of the vehicle, the seat shell and the child occupant are substantially elevated above, or relative to, the seating surface of the vehicle. The tall overall seat height can affect the view of the driver and can be undesirable aesthetically. Also, the center of gravity of both the seat assembly and the child can be relatively high. Such car seats can thus also be disadvantageous during a crash and/or when installed in a smaller vehicle.
Some of these types of car seats are configurable between different recline positions. Such car seats often include a recline mechanism that allows the user or caregiver to reconfigure the car seat between the different recline positions. The recline mechanism typically resides at least in part on the base, which can increase the base height, causing or contributing to the above-noted disadvantages.
In one example disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,073,859, a recline mechanism having a rack-and-pinion type gear is disposed between a seat body or shell and a seat base. The mechanism includes an arcuate rack located in a recliner back plate underneath the seat body that interacts with a pinion gear disposed on the base. The pinion gear, which is driven by a motor, can be moved to adjust the recline or incline of the seat body. The recline mechanism is elaborate and relatively expensive, which may make the car seat cost prohibitive to many consumers and caregivers. The motor may also be noisy, potentially malfunction, and be difficult and/or expensive to repair.
In some known reclinable car seats, the recline mechanism is manually operable. However, such mechanisms typically include a relatively significant number of parts. The result is a recline mechanism that is difficult and time-consuming to manufacture and assemble and is complex and not intuitive to operate when a user attempts to adjust the car seat among different selectable seat recline positions.